November 23, 2025 • 43 mins
Our very first Investing Diary has landed, and she is the perfect reminder that investing is absolutely for women like us. Before she ever opened an app, she genuinely believed investing was a world reserved for men on Wall Street. Then lockdown hit, the algorithm gods did their thing, and suddenly she was seeing finance content from women who actually looked and sounded like her. One rabbit hole later… her entire money story flipped. What started as curiosity turned into a full investing era. She binged podcasts, graduated from micro investing, and built herself a portfolio with a set-and-forget energy. Then life did what life does. First home. Wedding. New job. So she stepped back from investing and honestly forgot about her portfolio altogether. Two years later she logs back in… and realises it has grown by $20,000 while she invested exactly nothing. Inside this ep, Victoria gets pervy about it all: the ETFs doing the heavy lifting, the direct shares she bought because she could see their value, and the “accidental strategy” that is actually outperforming her partners. This one is proof that you do not need to be a man in a suit on Wall Street to grow your money in the sharemarket. You just need to start.
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Acknowledgement of Country By Nartarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name's Anatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman
and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya Niana,
kaka ya Ya bin Ahaka Nian Our gay In Mbina,
yakarum Jar, Dominyama, Domagaowakaman, damon Imlan Bomber bang gadaboma In
and now in wakah ghana on yak rum jar Watnadaa. Hello,
(00:22):
beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that
we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money. She's on the Money. Hello, and
(01:08):
welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that lets
you be pervy about other people's investment portfolios for educational
purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our
new investing diaries where I get to talk with one
of our incredible She's on the Money community members all
about their investing journey. Let's jump straight into it because
(01:28):
this week I got a message and I couldn't not reply,
She's on the show. It went like this, Hi, Victoria.
I knew zero about investing until twenty twenty, when we
were all stuck inside. Thanks to my Instagram algorithm, I
spent six months learning everything I could. I was listening
to She's on the Money, I was listening to my
millennial money, all of it before making my first investment.
(01:50):
I ended up investing fifty thousand dollars over four years,
with the goal of having one hundred thousand dollars invested
by the time I was thirty. Of course, life got
in the way. My savings were diverted to buying a
home and then a wedding. I stopped checking my portfolio
and I didn't invest for two whole years. But the
growth has been really impressive, and I would love to
(02:11):
share my real world experience of compounding interest money diarist,
I'm so excited for this.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Ah, thank you so much. I'm really excited to be
the first anonymous investing diary.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think my favorite part about this is anonymous you
can get really pervy, like I feel like you and
I were talking off air before we started recording and
we're talking about Brooks Investing Diary from my team, and
that was fantastic. But I also held back a little
bit because I was like, well, I'll ask go about
all the shares, but I'm not going to be like,
well how many dollars have you got, because I don't
know there's a line when you're not anonymous, but when
(02:44):
you're anonymous, I can ask anything. It's so good and
I'm so excited. So let's start at the top investing diarist.
I want to note obviously I have to be me,
tell me a little bit about your money story as well.
What was your life like before you start and investing,
and what was your attitude towards investing?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Sure, so I, you know, preparing for this diary, I
sort of was reflecting back to the time before investing,
the time before I sort of learned more about finances.
And I grew up in a big family and my
family were very sort of middle working class. My parents
just worked to government jobs, and I always just thought
money was you know, you earn a job, you save,
(03:24):
and then you live off your savings and that's it.
And like I said in my submission, it was actually
really mind blowing to learn that there are ways to
make your money stretch further, ways to make your money
work for you. So when I actually learned about investing
for the first time, I really thought, wow, I did
not realize that investing could be for someone like me.
It really had that association as being you know, guys
(03:47):
working on Wall Street and very male dominated, and so yeah,
I just think it was something I never been considered.
And I really had an attitude towards money that was
a little bit of a scarcity mindset, but also just
you know, money comes in, money goes out. I'm not
keeping track of it, and that's just the way that
it was always going to be. So I had to
(04:08):
do a lot of re education and learning about it
to really change my mindset. And I'm really proud of
where I've come, and I had a lot to learn
and I still.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Do as well. What was that moment where you were like,
I want to learn about this because like you're obviously
stuck inside, we didn't have much to do. Some of
us me took up crochet, right, but you took up
financial literacy. And I feel like that's a choice, like
in a good way. That's a really good choice, But
did something prompt you to go there has to be
(04:37):
a better way, or there has to be, you know,
a way I can create wealth or like, how did
you fall into the slippery slope of finance content?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Well, I actually have the algorithm gods to thank for that.
So I remember being on my Instagram for you page.
I don't know what it's called, and I actually thought
graph and it was really just like very visually appealing,
and I can't remember it to this day. I just
remember thinking, he's a young girl who looks like me.
She's fun, she's friendly, she's making money, and investing seemed
(05:06):
really cool, and I thought, wow, it is actually so interesting,
and it got me really excited because I think her
graph was showing how much she'd invested, how much you'd grown,
and just the I guess, the potential of what investing
could bring.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So you kind of found someone online that was like, hey,
I'm making money, and you were like, hey, that doesn't
seem too complex. I could do that. Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I know. Definitely investing at the beginning, it was quite intimidating,
even though I think at the time that's maybe when like,
you know, she's on the money. Was starting or had
just oh, had previously started same as my millennial money
I know comseec of pocket was starting off as well.
So it was a combination of a few things that
yeah opened the door for me and it actually made
(05:49):
it seem a little bit more appealing. But it took
me a while to actually make that first step and
make my first investment.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I love that. So tell me what were you doing
for work at the time and how much money were
you earning.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So I was working in marketing for a corporate company
and I was on about ninety k including.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Suva very cool. And if we looked at your budget,
did you have disposable income when you're cutting it fine? Like,
what kind of money situation were you in?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Well, it was a very very lucky time for me,
and I acknowledge very lucky and privileged. So I was
living at home, I was still twenty five, I hadn't
moved out, And it was actually COVID to make me
realize I have a lot of disposable income that previously
I had just been spending on clothes, consumers goods, going out,
spending drinking, and yeah, that's what I just really had
(06:36):
this like sort of I was always saving for a property,
my deposit, but I still gave myself a lot of
leeway and it took COVID for me to think, Wow,
where's my money going? And I remember I had a
friend at the time who said, you live at home,
you should have saved more or something like that, and
that really rude but also confronting.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Thank you for that. I feel attacked, but I'm also
going to get rich now.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It was actually really good wake up call because I
didn't feel the pressure, I think, to do anything with
my money except for you know, that very Australian dream
of you know, you buy a house, you buy a property,
and that's all I was really doing. But I actually
didn't really feel a drive either because it felt very
far away.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So how did you go from there to making your
first investment?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
A lot of podcasts, so a lot of listening to
podcasts like She's on the Money, like I mentioned, am
I Millennial Money? So many of them, and just following
a lot of people on Instagram. So I guess Victoria
you probably will know as well. Around the same time,
there was a big growth in the Oussie finance Instagram community.
There was lots of young influencers.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh my goodness. And yes, like it was a really
good time for content, but it was also so rogue.
Like I'm looking back on that because at the time
I was a financial advisor and I'd review those posts
and be like, what are you guys doing? And now,
obviously there's been some acid reforming you need a license
and rah rah, But like it was a free for
all for a fair bit there, Like you were getting
so much information. Doesn't mean it was correct, which was
(08:04):
half of the issue I had with it, but whatever,
like that's fun. You seem to be in a good
position now because of it.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, and I definitely acknowledge at the time as well,
I probably wasn't even sure how much of that was
legit or whether it was just you know, hype to
get followers or clicks or engagement. So obviously it took
away a grain of salt. But it was really just
seeing people who were like me, young women or just
young people you know, actually sort of gabbling in this
space and hearing from experts like yourself who made it
(08:33):
sound something achievable for someone.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Like me, because it is, and then you're proving it.
So tell me, how did you go from their like
obviously making your first investment. You consumed heaps of content
and you were like, okay, well, I feel ready to
make my first investment. Why did you feel ready? Because
I feel like this is where, especially women, we get
like analysis paralysis, and we're like, okay, like I've researched
(08:56):
so much, and as you said before, like so many podcasts,
so much information. Sometimes that information can be too much,
and then you get I don't know, paralyzed into not
making a decision. How did you go, all right, I'm
going to download an investing platform and make my first investment.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It was also the very classic time of Spaceship and Raise,
so I just started with downloading Spaceship, which was a
micro investing platform, and a lot of the advice that
I was hearing was, you know, just start through your
two cents in, through your hat in the ring, and
just see what it looks like to get used to
that feeling of your money, you know, going up and down.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Love love, And you've probably heard me on the podcast
because you said you've been here for a while. I
call Spaceship and Raise the gateway drug of investing because
it doesn't feel that scary, right like when they're micro
investing platforms and you're like, well, it's just a few cents,
like or it's just a couple of dollars. And Spaceship
and Rays still exist today and a lot of our
communities still use and love them. But as I said,
(09:51):
they're kind of the gateway. And given how much you
have invested, I can almost guarantee you're no longer with
Spaceship or Rays.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
So I yea. Honestly, it feels like so long ago.
But I think I was with Spaceship for a few
maybe three to six months, and then pulled my money out,
decided I should, you know, actually take a leap, and
I made the first step onto using a real platform,
and I invested my first one thousand dollars in Pocket.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Comsex Pocket out very cool. And are you still with
Comsex Pocket?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yes, So I have branched out into Comsex so CBA's
actual investing platform.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
She's upgraded, Yeah, upgraded.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
The Big Girl platform. I do still have Pocket just
because I actually haven't sold anything that I've purchased. I've
still got all my shares. So I thought, just to
save the effort and the tax and everything, I'm just
going to leave.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It totally, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. For
those of you are playing along at home or in
your car, you might be like, well, what's the difference.
Comsex Pocket is an app that's been released by Comsec
that has a short list of atfs that you can
choose from. So instead of being overwhelmed by going on
the Comsec app, which has literally everything that is listed
on the ASX for you, which is very sexy but
(11:01):
can be overwhelming, they have I believe it's like eight
to twelve. I can't remember the actual number. I personally
don't use that platform. Doesn't mean it's bad. It's a
good platform, but it only gives you access to like
eight to twelve ETFs and then you pick what's in
line with your values and when you are starting your journey,
that can be really helpful. The other thing I will
say is because they're owned by the same company, my friend,
(11:22):
you could shoot comsecond email and say, hey, I've got
comcept Pocket and comsept can you just migrate them to
the same platform so that you only have one and
they will do what is called an interspecies transfer, where
they will transfer from one platform to another because they
own it. They're not going to care. They're keeping you
as a client, and your concept shares will then show
up on your comset account, which might just be good
(11:44):
for admin.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I'm going to have to write that down. That's a
really good tip for when I do my admin.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Now, AE hundred percent, And like I mean, if not
bad to have it across too. Like I have shared before,
I have a number of different investing platforms. I have
like my main one, but like to keep up with
the community, I need to have like fifty bucks in everything.
I need to be able to log into everyone else's
accounts and be like, oh, well this is how peerler
works or this is how comsept works. So I guarantee
I've got money on every platform, which, come tax time
(12:11):
is the biggest nightmare and my account wants to kill me.
But like that way, I know what's going on. Tell
me a bit more. You've gone from, you know, having
spaceship and I feel like this perfectly stereotypical. She's on
the money investing journey from going spaceship to comsext pocket
to the big girl comsec app. Are you feeling confident
(12:32):
about investing now? Is that something that you hit the
market with or is that something that's growing over time.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I would say I feel confident in it now just
because and maybe I'll get to this bit later. But
my approach and my strategy for investing is very much
seta and forget. I don't dabble with anything that's too crazy.
I'm not very speculative. I've got you know, diversified my
VDHD diversified High Growth fund. I've got a few ETFs
(12:59):
in concept pocket, like I mentioned, so some of the
very classic, well known NDQFI and I feel like I've
done a fair few trades now, not for a while,
which I'll also get to, but I really feel like
I know what to do, I know what I'm buying,
and once you actually make your first trade, for example,
on one of the official platforms, it's really easy to
(13:20):
get the hangoff because you're just essentially putting an order
in placing the order, and then it's in your account
and you get to see that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I a kind it the other day to a friend too.
If you can shop on the Iconic, you can buy
shares and like it sounds more complicated, but like the
process is same. You put the things that you want
in your cart and then you hit transact and then bam,
that's happening, and you kind of go. I don't know
about you, but I remember my first few trades when
(13:47):
I was a baby investor going about it. Oh oh,
and you kind of feel a little bit silly in
a good way.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, And it's I guess, like really interesting to hear
about how people had shares, you know, back in the
non digital age, where I think they actually had to
call up the bank and you know, get someone to
buy that for them on their behalf. Whereas now you
get to do that yourself, which is incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Oh my gosh. It is genuinely so much more accessible.
I was trying to explain this to my nana the
other day, literally, and I was like, no, no, no,
you can just buy it online. And she's like, who's
your brokeup? And I was like, it's not a person,
it's a platform, and it's just a very cool place
to be in twenty twenty five when we can access
it for literally I know, no, Comsex Pocket isn't, as
(14:30):
I will say, as accessible, and I say that because
they have minimum investment amounts that you need to reach.
So I believe that if you want to transact on Comsex,
you need to have your first trade be a minimum
of one hundred dollars. And that's fine for some people
who are ready to take that plunge, but a lot
of people like, well I'm not ready, And you might
look at a sharesis where the literal minimum doesn't exist.
It could be one cent. So everyone is going to
(14:53):
have their different like pros and cons. And in my
investing masterclass, just to plug that really quickly. I literally,
and this is friend why I have so many share
trading accounts. I have done a video on basically all
the top platforms that exist of how to submit your
first trade. So I've done Shareess, I've done Comsec, I've
gone with peerl like all of them, and I'm like,
(15:13):
this is how to do it, and these are the minimums.
And like in the com Sec video, I remember recording
it and being like, but you're gonna have to do
a minimum of one hundred dollars because they won't let
you do less than that, and like just all of
that stuff that might make you feel more confident. Now
I want to get into more nedy gritty and ask you,
all right, well you mentioned you know VDHG and you
mentioned NDQ, like, I've got questions about what you own
(15:34):
and the exact amount in your portfolio. But we're going
to go to a really quick break because I'm going
to gate keep that information for right after that, so
guys don't go anywhere, all right, money diarists. So we
are back and it is time to get into the
nedy gritty. We know what you did for work, how
much money you were earning, why you were able to invest,
(15:54):
But now I need to know tell me how much
is your share portfolio worth?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Sure? So, like I mentioned in my intro, I haven't
invested for about two years, so since late twenty twenty three.
But when I looked earlier this year, just a few
months ago, I was really incredibly surprised that I'd reached
seventy five thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Stop it, that's so good, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What's really cool is I just forgot, of course that
like two years is quite a long time, it was
going to grow and that's the magic of compounding interest.
So from when I first started investing, of course it
was COVID, there wasn't much to do. I was looking
at my share portfolio all the time, every day, every
few hours because you know, that's that fear of losing
(16:36):
money or see when you see it grow, you just
want to keep looking. So I had to really like
wean myself off that, and then it got to the
stage of not looking at all.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So tell me about this seventy five thousand. You stopped
investing in late twenty twenty three, and you said for
reasons i'll get into. Let's have a quick chat about
that side note, because I think this is a really
relatable piece of content where sometimes we have the funds
to invest, and then sometimes life happens and we are like, well,
I'd love to still invest, but I have these short
term goals I want to achieve. And some people will
(17:07):
ride into the show and be like they should I
be investing in my shares, or should I be buying
my first home, or I really want to get married
or whatever it is, And I feel like you've just
gone through that. So you put your shared trading journey
on hold in late twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Why, Well, so at the time I had always been
saving for my first house deposit. I was buying that
with my partner now husband, and so I really just
wanted to save every bit of extra money I had
and put that. First of all was my house deposit,
saving a buffer for you know, all the costs that
come with the housing journey. And then also once we
(17:41):
had bought that place, which was also in late twenty
twenty three, I just wanted to keep my savings to
build up the offset and just in case there was
anything that needed to be fixed with the house or
any last minute fees strata.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I just wanted that buffer there.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So I stopped investing at the time. And I had
also started a job that was in a company where
I do get shares as well, so as part of
an employee share scheme, which makes up quite a large
chunk of my package. So I thought, I'm getting these
shares already, I had quite a good base in the market,
and I thought, let's just you know, take a bit
(18:15):
of a pause. And then I was also engaged at
that time, and I thought, you know, I'm going to
need to sort of start saving up for this wedding
now that the house has been or the apartment's been purchased.
So it was, yeah, just trying to prioritize, and I
had all these competing priorities, and unfortunately I had to
take a pause on my investing, and that.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Is so fine. Talk to me. You now have a husband,
which is really exciting. You purchased your first home with him.
What then happened? So have you guys? Do you both
of you invest? Is this a journey that you're both
on together? Is that a decision that you made independently? Like,
I'm just so pervy, I'm so sorry. Were you talking
about this to get Does he have shares? Are you
(18:53):
running rings around him?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Tell me? So interestingly?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
He also has shares and we were both I think
being a man, he probably a generalization, but I feel
like he knew more about investing and maybe knew that
it was open to him in a way that I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So he just had confidence. He didn't know more than you.
He just had confidence. And when you are lacking confidence,
you've got to ask yourself one question, what would a mediocre,
middle aged white man do? And then you're going to
do that pretty much?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
But yeah, So he was also investing around twenty twenty.
I think he had rais or acorns and I had
to play spaceship, so we had compare notes, and he
also was investing in similar but different things. So we
hold I believe both NDQ and FIE. He has made
more speculative and direct share purchases with you know, our
(19:43):
direct companies, and he is definitely taking a few punts
here and there. He has. Oh, he's more of a
risk take than I am, as I'm pretty risk averse
of my investing.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so tell me about performance, then your portfolios? Whose
performance is better?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Well, funnily enough, because I haven't sold anything, I've always
been buying the same shares. I don't actually hold that many.
I think I've got about less than ten direct and ets.
He had so many he had to go through a
journey of selling the ones that were underperforming. Then he
I think was rebalancing. So I actually would say my
portfolio is done better. But just because I've been very consistent.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Oh my god. So hold on. So you're saying that
consistency is the key. Not picking stocks that's so crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yes, And not trying to time the market either, that's
you know, it's a key learning And I feel like,
don't get me wrong, I'm sure your husband is incredibly smart,
and like it's also like, as somebody who worked in
the industry, it's fun, Like, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Not everyone is going to find this fun, but I
find this fun, and I know that a lot of
men are also like, well, it's kind of like a
speculative stock. It's a bit of fun. Like, it doesn't
mean it's better. Research tells us that women who are
just consistent are better investors than men overall, and that
is the perfect example of that. So we know now
that your share portfolio that you created yourself is worth
(21:04):
about seventy five five hundred dollars. And you said I
own VDHG, which is the Vanguard Diversified High Growth Fund,
which we spoke about on Brooks episode as well, both
brook and I own. That definitely not a recommendation, and
I feel like I need to caveat this before I
get into well what do you own? Not recommendations? We
are just being pervy on your portfolio. And VDHG is
(21:26):
actually one of the most popular ETFs in the country.
It's not because oh wow, Like I don't want someone
listening to this and be like, wow, actually I've heard
that like three times now, and she's on the money.
They must be onto something, Yeah, babe. The whole country
is like that's where most people end up going down
their rabbit hole and finding their way too, because Vanguard
is quite popular. Can you run me through what you
(21:49):
hold in your portfolio? Will put I feel like the
direct shares for your company off to the side because
it's not the same like she owns direct shares in
her company fantastic. We'll talk about that later. But in
your actual comseck account and comsect pocket account, what do
you own and why? Sure?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
So, overall my strategy is very much core and satellite.
I would say VDHG is my core. I've got about
just under fifty percent of my whole portfolio is VDHG,
and eventually I would like that to have a larger proportion,
just because, like I said, I'm pretty pretty basic, pretty stable.
I like consistency, and I like to just know the
(22:29):
diversification is already taken care of for me one hundred percent.
So I own two direct shares. I've got Bendigo Bendigobank
Wes Farmers, and I've got one lic which is afik Oh.
I just have to go look up the full name
of I believe. So my direct shares are about seventeen percent,
(22:50):
So yeah, less than twenty percent, and I'll probably keep
it that way as my portfolio grows. Just because Wes
Farmers has amazingly been my best performing share, this is
pretty crazy. I've had ninety three percent growth on that.
I must have just gotten out a really good time.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
When did you purchase that?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Oh, I think it might have been twenty twenty two,
And yeah, it's just grown really well. I also have
NDQ and FI, which I've mentioned IHG oh IXJ. Sorry
those three are in pocket and as well because I
haven't invested for a little while and the tech market
has grown amazingly, I had eighty five point four seven
(23:27):
percent growth in NDQ.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, amazing. So those of you playing along at home,
NDQ is the beta shares NASDAQ one hundred ETF, which
is going to give so NASDAK is the American version
of the AX, and that means that she's getting, you know,
some international exposure, you could say. And then you said
before that you have IXJ. So IXJ is the I
(23:52):
shares Global Healthcare in the Australian currency, which means you're
able to purchase it on the ASEX, but it's actually
an into national ETF, which is very cool. And then
you also mentioned that you have AFI which is the
Australian Foundation Investment Company. Now all of those are fine,
those are available on and it's not even me giving
you permission. They're just like basic ETFs that you're able
(24:14):
to buy on comsext Pocket. But what I'm really interested
in is the two direct shares that you own. One
because you had ninety three percent growth in West Farmers.
Let's start there. Why did you buy West Farmers? Why
did you go? I want a direct share, especially because
your journey started with Spaceship, then comsext Pocket, which doesn't
allow you to have direct shares, and then you would
have graduated to comsec where you had access to direct shares.
(24:37):
Why West Farmers.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
So when I was really deep into my investing journey
and I was learning and everything, I thought, maybe I
should branch out from ETF and actually, you know, put
my money where my mouth is, buy a few blue
chip companies that I think have a lot of potential.
And of course in Australia I always get West Farmers,
Woollies and Coals confused. But West Farmers I believe owns.
Bunnings came up and I think it did use to
(25:00):
own one of the supermarket chains.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It did and it now doesn't. Oh it doesn't, but
it used to be affiliated with Calls, which is why
they all have the flybys and access to one pass,
because they're kind of all in affiliation with each other.
But West Farmers no longer own Calls. Calls Is are
out on its own. But inside West Farmers you have Target,
you have came Out, you have Bunnings, You've got office Works,
(25:22):
there's a whole heap of other stuff, and then a
pharmacy brand as well. Now that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So when I was doing research, I was in a
few Facebook groups, I was in a few Reddit chats,
Reddit subredits, and I think it is really great to
have those blue chip companies that you can't imagine ever
really being in a downturn. You know, we know that
OSSI's love Bunnings. I love Bunnings, and so I just
think it is a very stable company, you know, as
part of a wider collection. So I was very happy
(25:49):
with my Groce and West Farmers, and it was a
few It came really came from recommendations from other people
that I did research on. I checked the share price
as well, and I thought let's put a bit of
money in and now it's grown amazingly and I actually
wish I had put more in.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I love that. The thing that I love about this
part of our conversation is it's kind of what I
was hoping to get to. Like, you purchased a direct
share because it directly aligned to your values. You were like, actually,
I've purchased this direction not because like a mate was like, oh,
it's just Becky Stock or whatever. You were like, actually,
I can see value in West Farmers because I can
see that those are consumables that we're always going to need.
(26:26):
And I think the conversation, especially and I was on Reddit.
I've been on Reddit for years is the sick reality
of my life. But I'm always reading Ozzie Finance, and
during COVID, I think a lot of people were having
that conversation about if you were on Reddit as well
the toilet paper. They were like, it's a consumable. Like
Reddit was going crazy talking about like companies that are
thriving at the moment, you should be investing in them.
(26:47):
And clearly you took note of that. But then also,
it's not just I read something online and invested. You
were like, I read something online, I thought about it
and I can see the value here and it's still
in my portfolio because you're buying hold strategies working. Tell
me about Bendigo Bank. Why Bendigo Bank.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
So Bendigo I've seen about forty three percent growth, which
is not bad. Again, I didn't actually invest a huge amount,
and right now it's only sitting in about three point
six thousand dollars. I always, again, back in my research,
I really wanted to own some of the banks, just
to dabble be in that space, in that blue chip
as well. And I always remember that Macquarie was very expensive.
(27:24):
I just think it looked expensive. I thought maybe it
was overvalued at the time. Again doing a bit of research,
listening to other people's recommendations, and I think Bendigo, I'm
a little bit dusty on my knowledge, but it's maybe
the fifth biggest bank or it is so. At the
time of investing in Bendigo, I was actually a customer
of UP Bank, which I really really liked. And this
(27:45):
was at the time when I had all my savers
and I was creating my health deposit, and I loved
UP and everything they stood for, and so I thought,
let's invest in Bendigo, invest in the parent, yeah, which
would be Association.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's why I wanted to know, because
I was like, are you just picking these random two stocks?
They seem oddly specific. I would love to know more. Now,
your West Farmer's direct Chairs have returned you ninety three percent,
which is fantastic and very exciting. Definitely the outlier. But
have you got anything else that you're like, oh my gosh,
that had incredible returns. I didn't see it coming, Like,
(28:19):
what's been your best performers?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So honestly, yeah, West Farmers, which was at ninety three percent.
I am looking right now and it's down to eighty nine,
so I'm sure there's a bit of variability, and as
well as NDQ, which I mentioned earlier, is at the
eighty three percent, And really, I have had great returns overall.
Something I didn't say and I wanted to show, actually
the value and the power of compound investing is that
(28:43):
my current portfolio is at seventy five and a half
thousand dollars and I've invested fifty five thousand of that.
So the growth that I've seen across my whole portfolio
is thirty six percent, and that's about twenty k So.
I was really really impressed me not having investors for
two years, which I think is incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's very sexy. I'm not going to lie. That is
very sexy. It's one of those things where you know,
we zoom out and we talk about the average performance
of the Australian share market and over time that sits
anywhere between nine and eleven percent, depending on what period
of time you're looking at, and we all expect that,
but then we have these stories and we can't guarantee
that you'll get the same returns, especially because you kind
(29:23):
of had the benefit of investing at a time when
lots of people were pulling their money out, So that's
going to play into it. Sorry, thirty six percent return
is elite. Is there anything in your portfolio that you
look at and be like, excuse me, you're not performing
very well.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So I think this was one of my rogue ideas.
And I was listening to podcasts and I suppose Victoria
you can talk more about this. But I remember hearing
that lic So listed investment companies. I think they are
are quite good, and I thought, why not, you know,
invest in one. I did a bit of research into
the company that is Afi, and I think their Australian owned.
(29:58):
They had a really cool history, and I thought, why not.
But it's not terrible. It's just held its value, which
is maybe the point of it. So I'm currently down
one point three nine percent and it's just flooding along
and maybe that's the point.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And do you know what, I think we've all got
something in our portfolio that we look at and go
I really thought that would perform and it wasn't. But that,
my friend, is why we diversified. Because if you had
just purchased that and I got you on the show,
you'd be like investing sucks, Like investing is not fun.
But because you've diversified, we can't pick the good performers
like you would not have been able to say, do
(30:34):
you know what Wes Fumers is going to return the
ninety three percent? Because do you know what you would
have done? Put your entire life savings into it? Because
I would have and I'm not a betting woman. Do
you have any other investing regrets or big learnings from
this journey?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I wouldn't say regrets so much as just a lot
of learnings. So when I was reflecting, and you know
about to speak on this podcast. I thought my story
isn't amazing. I haven't a gained the system. I want
to say that I am very I'm honest, but I'm
also like it just shows really the power of compound interest.
(31:07):
Investing can be very like certain figure and that's the
approach I like to take. I don't call myself an
amazing investor, but I really just listen to the recommendations
of a lot of trusted people out there who know
their stuff, and I tried my hand at something, and yeah,
I've just followed the advice out there technically, Like I
don't think of investing as gambling or I know some
(31:28):
people have that out there, and I think that's when
you choose the riskier stocks, or you've got all your
money in crypto or direct companies like you were saying, Victoria.
But I think when you put your money in a
few trusted companies that you know are going to grow
because or it is an ETF which is so broad
and diversified. I think this just shows that investing it
really should just be seen as an everyday asset and
(31:51):
an everyday tool for a lot of young people out there.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, and I love it and that's obviously. I don't know.
I feel like I've dedicated my life at this point
to yelling people to start investing because I'm like, you
want to get rich, you can get rich. You want
to be financially free. I want you to be financially free.
Like I love this, especially because I'm like, it's so accessible.
Like we're not talking about rich people getting richer. We're
talking about a twenty five year old who once decided
(32:16):
she was going to invest and now has a seventy
five thousand dollars portfolio. And by the time you retire,
you're going to be so comfortable, Like it just makes
me so excited. Now I want to know. Obviously, I'm
making some grand assumptions here. Your portfolio. You said you
contributed fifty five thousand dollars and it's now at seventy
five five hundred dollars ish right. To get to that,
(32:38):
you would have had to experience compounding interest, which means
you have reinvested the dividends that your portfolio is creating
back into your share portfolio. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So I'm a little guilty of all the dividends I've
received over the last two years. I've just been saving
in my investment save up that's against my offset, and
maybe in a few months time, what very s, I'll
pick one of my existing ETFs or shares. I believe
I'm just going to put a chunk of money into
VDHD and that'll be my investing for the year. So
(33:09):
I suppose at the moment what I do is just
save my dividends at a time when I'm ready to invest.
And like you said, Victoria, conflict does have a fee
and has that minimum, so I want to make sure
I'm investing on a good amount. I don't do dollar
cost averaging just because I I don't know. I just
prefer to invest in a lump sum so I can
(33:30):
sort of track it against my other goals like I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And yes, that gives me anxiety because I'm such a
dollar cost averaging girly. And it's just because you can't
time the market and you told me that before. Like
you told me before, you can't time the market, and
I would hate for you to make a really big
lump sum investment and then like the week after the
market crashes or something happens. Can you maybe like I'd
(33:53):
never give you advice, but maybe once you have your
figure and you're like, I'm going to invest, Like, let's
pretend it's thirteen thousand dollars or so instead of just
dumping that in at one time, could you break that
up for me maybe into like going, I'm still going
to do the thirteen, but I'll do it over three months,
like so that you get one month, two month, three months,
and then maybe your dollar cost averaging that way instead
of just like jumping a heap of cash into the market.
(34:15):
Because you're the one that told me that timing the
market that's not a strategy.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Yes, so i'd be that's actually a really good approach.
And I need to get back on the horse, so
to speak, and you know, get back in the investing mindset,
so maybe I will. It is a big call. I
definitely need to set up some of my you know,
the share price alerts when you can see how it's going.
I haven't been keeping an eye on it, like I mentioned,
set and forget. But yes, I like your idea. I
get it.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I'm just a girl. I was born to do investing.
So when you say, oh this, I'm like, oh, you
told me that that wasn't a good idea, So I
was wrong. When I said, I thought that you were
really investing your dividends. Your fifty five thousand dollars, your
dividends have been going into one account. And this basically
twenty thousand dollars that you've made in the market has
just been from increases in values of your shares as
(34:59):
opposed to re investing along the way.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, I was three interesting at the beginning, but my
dividends really increased over the last like two to three years.
The last two years it's been about twenty five hundred
of dividends, And yes, I am just sucking that away,
but I don't intend to spend it. I really do
want to intend to invest it back in Oh And.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
That's fine, But do you know what that tells me?
This portfolio is all growth. It's not even compound interest
that's got you here, because compounding interest is the money
that your money makes when it's made money. But you're
just taking that money off the table and setting it
over to the side, which is fine, but that's impressive.
So you're telling me if you had implemented a dividend
(35:39):
reinvestment plan, which by the way, through COMSEP, you can
you go and tick the box and it will automatically
reinvest your dividends, which maybe you're interested in, especially if
you're like, well, if BDHG is getting dividends, maybe I
want them to go straight back into VDHG. You could
automate that. And I'm not saying you need to do that,
but that might be something you're interested in, because then
you'll be harnessing even more compounding interest power instead of
(36:02):
having the compound interest that you're being paid put into
a savings account for you to then invest later. If
that makes any sense, Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Actually, I think that's a really good learning because in
my mind, I really conflate like the growth that I'm
seeing as compound interest.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
No, it's literally value increasing the shares that you own,
which is also very sexy, and I love that for you.
But I'm like, go, we could be making more money
here and you don't even have to invest a dollar
more like it's all the money that your money's making
just making more money.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Yeah, that's a really good approach. I definitely I'm excited
listening to Brooks investing diary. I really got me excited
because she is so passionate and she has such a
goal in mind. I in my submission, I said, I
originally had this goal of having one hundred K by
age thirty, which has the goal has passed me by
I haven't reached it.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Sorry, you've bought a house as well. You know, we
cannot dismiss that. Sorry, by thirty you had purchased a home,
you had paid for a wedding, and you had invested
fifty five thousand dollars. Sit down, that's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I think when you see it like that, it just
I guess it goes to show that five years is
a huge amount of time. A lot can obviously happen
in five years, but also your money can grow so
much or you can do so much. And I think
at the time of investing, I didn't appreciate just how
long five years is in the grand scheme of your money.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's why it's a journey, right, Like
you're always learning new things. Yes, you invested during COVID,
but it's not a set and forget things. So as
much as you're investing, portfolio can be. I feel like
we're always learning new tidbits and things that we could implement,
or like you might get another interest, Like one day
you might be like, oh, I'm really interested in Transurban,
Like you know, that's a company that I might go
(37:40):
and purchase some shares in. And you know, now you've
got a little kitty to the side essentially that you're like,
I'm investing maybe instead of investing it all in BDHG,
You've found another interest that you're like, I want to
make sure that And as you said before, I want
most of my portfolio in VDHG. That's your journey. But
you did say you're a core satellite girly, so maybe
(38:00):
you've got a few more satellites that just keep things sparkly.
Like I think we've got to stay engaged as well
as still investing for the long term, we've got to
be excited about it as well.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yeah, and there are some amazing Aussi companies out there
that are doing really cool things. And I think as well,
it can be overwhelming because on hot Cover all those websites,
definitely Reddit, people have so many bets and speculative choices,
and I think, yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that, but
I also think I'd like to just learn a lot more.
Like you said, there's always so much to learn, and
(38:32):
you never stopped.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
And I feel like you've got to take everything that
you read on the Internet with a grain of salt,
especially if you're going to be reading forums like Reddit.
Do not get me wrong, those people are wildly passionate,
but that does not mean that they know what they
talk about. It turns out you can be passionate and
wrong at the same time.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yes, and also there's a lot of I definitely remember
back in the day, there's a lot of people who
are like, I'm making one hundred K returns and yeah,
you can't believe everyone.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
And also you're making one hundred k returns and then
you find out they've invested a million dollars and you're like,
that's actually terrible return. There's some semantics that aren't here.
Or they're like, oh, the revenue on that business is
massive and you go, yes, but their profit is dismal. Yeah,
there's just I feel like there's a lot of semantics,
and you do need to take everything with a grain
of salt. I'm running out of time with you, so
(39:22):
I do want to ask two more questions before the
end to keep it very shees on the money esque,
what do you think is your best investing habit?
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I think as I sort of alluded to when I
first started speaking, but I had to do a lot
of like relearning my mindset, retraining, and understanding what the
value of a dollar is worth. So I think in
the last five years, I've really become a lot more
minimalist in my spending and consumption habits. So back in
pre COVID, I was spending a lot of money on
(39:50):
just fast fashion, random clothes, random nickknacks that I didn't
really need or didn't have any value for me, including
big nights out and things that I wasn't sure and
you know the next day that I actually really valued.
So and that's I guess where the investing comes into it, too,
because I would definitely much rather have this money working
(40:10):
for me in certain ways than just having a room
full of stuff that I don't really need or value totally.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I resonate with that one so much. Like my wardrobe
is nice because I spent a lot on it prior
to COVID.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, Like, yeah, I just think it's quite important to think, like,
obviously your lifestyle is important and making sure you're spending
on the things that you value, which is something I'm
really happy to say that I currently do now. I
always think I need to be thinking of my future
self and so bared me in the future. I want
to get out of my life and that's where I
believe my investing will come in handy, because I'm setting
(40:46):
up and I'm thinking of future.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Me yet totally or to flip that, I want to know,
what do you think is your worst investing all money habit?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's a good question. I think sometimes it is hard
to I guess separate, like I know brooks Ortter spoke
to this too, because she's really being in fire. But
it's like you have to enjoy aspects of life too,
And sometimes I think I do have a bit of
a scarcity mindset and it's hard to, you know, go
with the most expensive option if I know there is
(41:14):
a slightly cheaper option, you know, try to weigh up
that balance. And I guess my worst investing habit is that, Yes,
I haven't stayed engaged with it and time has passed
me by, but I'm ready. I'm really excited to sort
of start again and see where it goes.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
I am genuinely so excited for you, and just even
this conversation, I could see your face when you're like,
hold on, you're right, I could be doing dividend reinvesting.
I was like watching the way that you're looking at me,
because I'm also like, am I saying the wrong thing?
Like maybe this isn't in line when her values? But
I could see you kind of lighting up a little
bit to be like, hmm, maybe I should be doing
this or hmm, that seems interesting. So I love it.
(41:53):
Thank you so much for letting me be so pervy
on your portfolio. It's one of my favorite things to do.
Like We've released race a whole series on Instagram called
Pervy Paycheck and Pervy Portfolio where we break it down,
but now we're bringing it to the pod, and I
couldn't be more excited. So thank you for being our
very first anonymous investing diary. It has been an absolute pleasure.
(42:14):
I just know the community is going to be obsessed
with this, so thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy
I got to come on and share. And if I
could leave people with one thing, it's just that investing
doesn't have to be hard. It can be really simple,
really straightforward, and I think we should all have a
lot more confident and trust in ourselves to try our
hand this and get amazing results.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I'm obsessed with you. I love you, thank you so much.
That is so true. Please come and hype up my
community at every possible episode like I couldn't agree more.
I love this, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Advice tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of Money Sherper Pty Ltd a BN three two one
six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four
five one two eight nine
My name's Anatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman
and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young Ganya Niana,
kaka ya Ya bin Ahaka Nian Our gay In Mbina,
yakarum Jar, Dominyama, Domagaowakaman, damon Imlan Bomber bang gadaboma In
and now in wakah ghana on yak rum jar Watnadaa. Hello,
(00:22):
beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that
we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
She's on the Money. She's on the Money. Hello, and
(01:08):
welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that lets
you be pervy about other people's investment portfolios for educational
purposes of course. Welcome back to another one of our
new investing diaries where I get to talk with one
of our incredible She's on the Money community members all
about their investing journey. Let's jump straight into it because
(01:28):
this week I got a message and I couldn't not reply,
She's on the show. It went like this, Hi, Victoria.
I knew zero about investing until twenty twenty, when we
were all stuck inside. Thanks to my Instagram algorithm, I
spent six months learning everything I could. I was listening
to She's on the Money, I was listening to my
millennial money, all of it before making my first investment.
(01:50):
I ended up investing fifty thousand dollars over four years,
with the goal of having one hundred thousand dollars invested
by the time I was thirty. Of course, life got
in the way. My savings were diverted to buying a
home and then a wedding. I stopped checking my portfolio
and I didn't invest for two whole years. But the
growth has been really impressive, and I would love to
(02:11):
share my real world experience of compounding interest money diarist,
I'm so excited for this.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Ah, thank you so much. I'm really excited to be
the first anonymous investing diary.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think my favorite part about this is anonymous you
can get really pervy, like I feel like you and
I were talking off air before we started recording and
we're talking about Brooks Investing Diary from my team, and
that was fantastic. But I also held back a little
bit because I was like, well, I'll ask go about
all the shares, but I'm not going to be like,
well how many dollars have you got, because I don't
know there's a line when you're not anonymous, but when
(02:44):
you're anonymous, I can ask anything. It's so good and
I'm so excited. So let's start at the top investing diarist.
I want to note obviously I have to be me,
tell me a little bit about your money story as well.
What was your life like before you start and investing,
and what was your attitude towards investing?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Sure, so I, you know, preparing for this diary, I
sort of was reflecting back to the time before investing,
the time before I sort of learned more about finances.
And I grew up in a big family and my
family were very sort of middle working class. My parents
just worked to government jobs, and I always just thought
money was you know, you earn a job, you save,
(03:24):
and then you live off your savings and that's it.
And like I said in my submission, it was actually
really mind blowing to learn that there are ways to
make your money stretch further, ways to make your money
work for you. So when I actually learned about investing
for the first time, I really thought, wow, I did
not realize that investing could be for someone like me.
It really had that association as being you know, guys
(03:47):
working on Wall Street and very male dominated, and so yeah,
I just think it was something I never been considered.
And I really had an attitude towards money that was
a little bit of a scarcity mindset, but also just
you know, money comes in, money goes out. I'm not
keeping track of it, and that's just the way that
it was always going to be. So I had to
(04:08):
do a lot of re education and learning about it
to really change my mindset. And I'm really proud of
where I've come, and I had a lot to learn
and I still.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Do as well. What was that moment where you were like,
I want to learn about this because like you're obviously
stuck inside, we didn't have much to do. Some of
us me took up crochet, right, but you took up
financial literacy. And I feel like that's a choice, like
in a good way. That's a really good choice, But
did something prompt you to go there has to be
(04:37):
a better way, or there has to be, you know,
a way I can create wealth or like, how did
you fall into the slippery slope of finance content?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Well, I actually have the algorithm gods to thank for that.
So I remember being on my Instagram for you page.
I don't know what it's called, and I actually thought
graph and it was really just like very visually appealing,
and I can't remember it to this day. I just
remember thinking, he's a young girl who looks like me.
She's fun, she's friendly, she's making money, and investing seemed
(05:06):
really cool, and I thought, wow, it is actually so interesting,
and it got me really excited because I think her
graph was showing how much she'd invested, how much you'd grown,
and just the I guess, the potential of what investing
could bring.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So you kind of found someone online that was like, hey,
I'm making money, and you were like, hey, that doesn't
seem too complex. I could do that. Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I know. Definitely investing at the beginning, it was quite intimidating,
even though I think at the time that's maybe when like,
you know, she's on the money. Was starting or had
just oh, had previously started same as my millennial money
I know comseec of pocket was starting off as well.
So it was a combination of a few things that
yeah opened the door for me and it actually made
(05:49):
it seem a little bit more appealing. But it took
me a while to actually make that first step and
make my first investment.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I love that. So tell me what were you doing
for work at the time and how much money were
you earning.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So I was working in marketing for a corporate company
and I was on about ninety k including.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Suva very cool. And if we looked at your budget,
did you have disposable income when you're cutting it fine? Like,
what kind of money situation were you in?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Well, it was a very very lucky time for me,
and I acknowledge very lucky and privileged. So I was
living at home, I was still twenty five, I hadn't
moved out, And it was actually COVID to make me
realize I have a lot of disposable income that previously
I had just been spending on clothes, consumers goods, going out,
spending drinking, and yeah, that's what I just really had
(06:36):
this like sort of I was always saving for a property,
my deposit, but I still gave myself a lot of
leeway and it took COVID for me to think, Wow,
where's my money going? And I remember I had a
friend at the time who said, you live at home,
you should have saved more or something like that, and
that really rude but also confronting.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Thank you for that. I feel attacked, but I'm also
going to get rich now.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It was actually really good wake up call because I
didn't feel the pressure, I think, to do anything with
my money except for you know, that very Australian dream
of you know, you buy a house, you buy a property,
and that's all I was really doing. But I actually
didn't really feel a drive either because it felt very
far away.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So how did you go from there to making your
first investment?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
A lot of podcasts, so a lot of listening to
podcasts like She's on the Money, like I mentioned, am
I Millennial Money? So many of them, and just following
a lot of people on Instagram. So I guess Victoria
you probably will know as well. Around the same time,
there was a big growth in the Oussie finance Instagram community.
There was lots of young influencers.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh my goodness. And yes, like it was a really
good time for content, but it was also so rogue.
Like I'm looking back on that because at the time
I was a financial advisor and I'd review those posts
and be like, what are you guys doing? And now,
obviously there's been some acid reforming you need a license
and rah rah, But like it was a free for
all for a fair bit there, Like you were getting
so much information. Doesn't mean it was correct, which was
(08:04):
half of the issue I had with it, but whatever,
like that's fun. You seem to be in a good
position now because of it.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, and I definitely acknowledge at the time as well,
I probably wasn't even sure how much of that was
legit or whether it was just you know, hype to
get followers or clicks or engagement. So obviously it took
away a grain of salt. But it was really just
seeing people who were like me, young women or just
young people you know, actually sort of gabbling in this
space and hearing from experts like yourself who made it
(08:33):
sound something achievable for someone.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Like me, because it is, and then you're proving it.
So tell me, how did you go from their like
obviously making your first investment. You consumed heaps of content
and you were like, okay, well, I feel ready to
make my first investment. Why did you feel ready? Because
I feel like this is where, especially women, we get
like analysis paralysis, and we're like, okay, like I've researched
(08:56):
so much, and as you said before, like so many podcasts,
so much information. Sometimes that information can be too much,
and then you get I don't know, paralyzed into not
making a decision. How did you go, all right, I'm
going to download an investing platform and make my first investment.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It was also the very classic time of Spaceship and Raise,
so I just started with downloading Spaceship, which was a
micro investing platform, and a lot of the advice that
I was hearing was, you know, just start through your
two cents in, through your hat in the ring, and
just see what it looks like to get used to
that feeling of your money, you know, going up and down.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Love love, And you've probably heard me on the podcast
because you said you've been here for a while. I
call Spaceship and Raise the gateway drug of investing because
it doesn't feel that scary, right like when they're micro
investing platforms and you're like, well, it's just a few cents,
like or it's just a couple of dollars. And Spaceship
and Rays still exist today and a lot of our
communities still use and love them. But as I said,
(09:51):
they're kind of the gateway. And given how much you
have invested, I can almost guarantee you're no longer with
Spaceship or Rays.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
So I yea. Honestly, it feels like so long ago.
But I think I was with Spaceship for a few
maybe three to six months, and then pulled my money out,
decided I should, you know, actually take a leap, and
I made the first step onto using a real platform,
and I invested my first one thousand dollars in Pocket.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Comsex Pocket out very cool. And are you still with
Comsex Pocket?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yes, So I have branched out into Comsex so CBA's
actual investing platform.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
She's upgraded, Yeah, upgraded.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
The Big Girl platform. I do still have Pocket just
because I actually haven't sold anything that I've purchased. I've
still got all my shares. So I thought, just to
save the effort and the tax and everything, I'm just
going to leave.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It totally, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. For
those of you are playing along at home or in
your car, you might be like, well, what's the difference.
Comsex Pocket is an app that's been released by Comsec
that has a short list of atfs that you can
choose from. So instead of being overwhelmed by going on
the Comsec app, which has literally everything that is listed
on the ASX for you, which is very sexy but
(11:01):
can be overwhelming, they have I believe it's like eight
to twelve. I can't remember the actual number. I personally
don't use that platform. Doesn't mean it's bad. It's a
good platform, but it only gives you access to like
eight to twelve ETFs and then you pick what's in
line with your values and when you are starting your journey,
that can be really helpful. The other thing I will
say is because they're owned by the same company, my friend,
(11:22):
you could shoot comsecond email and say, hey, I've got
comcept Pocket and comsept can you just migrate them to
the same platform so that you only have one and
they will do what is called an interspecies transfer, where
they will transfer from one platform to another because they
own it. They're not going to care. They're keeping you
as a client, and your concept shares will then show
up on your comset account, which might just be good
(11:44):
for admin.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I'm going to have to write that down. That's a
really good tip for when I do my admin.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Now, AE hundred percent, And like I mean, if not
bad to have it across too. Like I have shared before,
I have a number of different investing platforms. I have
like my main one, but like to keep up with
the community, I need to have like fifty bucks in everything.
I need to be able to log into everyone else's
accounts and be like, oh, well this is how peerler
works or this is how comsept works. So I guarantee
I've got money on every platform, which, come tax time
(12:11):
is the biggest nightmare and my account wants to kill me.
But like that way, I know what's going on. Tell
me a bit more. You've gone from, you know, having
spaceship and I feel like this perfectly stereotypical. She's on
the money investing journey from going spaceship to comsext pocket
to the big girl comsec app. Are you feeling confident
(12:32):
about investing now? Is that something that you hit the
market with or is that something that's growing over time.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I would say I feel confident in it now just
because and maybe I'll get to this bit later. But
my approach and my strategy for investing is very much
seta and forget. I don't dabble with anything that's too crazy.
I'm not very speculative. I've got you know, diversified my
VDHD diversified High Growth fund. I've got a few ETFs
(12:59):
in concept pocket, like I mentioned, so some of the
very classic, well known NDQFI and I feel like I've
done a fair few trades now, not for a while,
which I'll also get to, but I really feel like
I know what to do, I know what I'm buying,
and once you actually make your first trade, for example,
on one of the official platforms, it's really easy to
(13:20):
get the hangoff because you're just essentially putting an order
in placing the order, and then it's in your account
and you get to see that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I a kind it the other day to a friend too.
If you can shop on the Iconic, you can buy
shares and like it sounds more complicated, but like the
process is same. You put the things that you want
in your cart and then you hit transact and then bam,
that's happening, and you kind of go. I don't know
about you, but I remember my first few trades when
(13:47):
I was a baby investor going about it. Oh oh,
and you kind of feel a little bit silly in
a good way.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, And it's I guess, like really interesting to hear
about how people had shares, you know, back in the
non digital age, where I think they actually had to
call up the bank and you know, get someone to
buy that for them on their behalf. Whereas now you
get to do that yourself, which is incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Oh my gosh. It is genuinely so much more accessible.
I was trying to explain this to my nana the
other day, literally, and I was like, no, no, no,
you can just buy it online. And she's like, who's
your brokeup? And I was like, it's not a person,
it's a platform, and it's just a very cool place
to be in twenty twenty five when we can access
it for literally I know, no, Comsex Pocket isn't, as
(14:30):
I will say, as accessible, and I say that because
they have minimum investment amounts that you need to reach.
So I believe that if you want to transact on Comsex,
you need to have your first trade be a minimum
of one hundred dollars. And that's fine for some people
who are ready to take that plunge, but a lot
of people like, well I'm not ready, And you might
look at a sharesis where the literal minimum doesn't exist.
It could be one cent. So everyone is going to
(14:53):
have their different like pros and cons. And in my
investing masterclass, just to plug that really quickly. I literally,
and this is friend why I have so many share
trading accounts. I have done a video on basically all
the top platforms that exist of how to submit your
first trade. So I've done Shareess, I've done Comsec, I've
gone with peerl like all of them, and I'm like,
(15:13):
this is how to do it, and these are the minimums.
And like in the com Sec video, I remember recording
it and being like, but you're gonna have to do
a minimum of one hundred dollars because they won't let
you do less than that, and like just all of
that stuff that might make you feel more confident. Now
I want to get into more nedy gritty and ask you,
all right, well you mentioned you know VDHG and you
mentioned NDQ, like, I've got questions about what you own
(15:34):
and the exact amount in your portfolio. But we're going
to go to a really quick break because I'm going
to gate keep that information for right after that, so
guys don't go anywhere, all right, money diarists. So we
are back and it is time to get into the
nedy gritty. We know what you did for work, how
much money you were earning, why you were able to invest,
(15:54):
But now I need to know tell me how much
is your share portfolio worth?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Sure? So, like I mentioned in my intro, I haven't
invested for about two years, so since late twenty twenty three.
But when I looked earlier this year, just a few
months ago, I was really incredibly surprised that I'd reached
seventy five thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Stop it, that's so good, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What's really cool is I just forgot, of course that
like two years is quite a long time, it was
going to grow and that's the magic of compounding interest.
So from when I first started investing, of course it
was COVID, there wasn't much to do. I was looking
at my share portfolio all the time, every day, every
few hours because you know, that's that fear of losing
(16:36):
money or see when you see it grow, you just
want to keep looking. So I had to really like
wean myself off that, and then it got to the
stage of not looking at all.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So tell me about this seventy five thousand. You stopped
investing in late twenty twenty three, and you said for
reasons i'll get into. Let's have a quick chat about
that side note, because I think this is a really
relatable piece of content where sometimes we have the funds
to invest, and then sometimes life happens and we are like, well,
I'd love to still invest, but I have these short
term goals I want to achieve. And some people will
(17:07):
ride into the show and be like they should I
be investing in my shares, or should I be buying
my first home, or I really want to get married
or whatever it is, And I feel like you've just
gone through that. So you put your shared trading journey
on hold in late twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Why, Well, so at the time I had always been
saving for my first house deposit. I was buying that
with my partner now husband, and so I really just
wanted to save every bit of extra money I had
and put that. First of all was my house deposit,
saving a buffer for you know, all the costs that
come with the housing journey. And then also once we
(17:41):
had bought that place, which was also in late twenty
twenty three, I just wanted to keep my savings to
build up the offset and just in case there was
anything that needed to be fixed with the house or
any last minute fees strata.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I just wanted that buffer there.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So I stopped investing at the time. And I had
also started a job that was in a company where
I do get shares as well, so as part of
an employee share scheme, which makes up quite a large
chunk of my package. So I thought, I'm getting these
shares already, I had quite a good base in the market,
and I thought, let's just you know, take a bit
(18:15):
of a pause. And then I was also engaged at
that time, and I thought, you know, I'm going to
need to sort of start saving up for this wedding
now that the house has been or the apartment's been purchased.
So it was, yeah, just trying to prioritize, and I
had all these competing priorities, and unfortunately I had to
take a pause on my investing, and that.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Is so fine. Talk to me. You now have a husband,
which is really exciting. You purchased your first home with him.
What then happened? So have you guys? Do you both
of you invest? Is this a journey that you're both
on together? Is that a decision that you made independently? Like,
I'm just so pervy, I'm so sorry. Were you talking
about this to get Does he have shares? Are you
(18:53):
running rings around him?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Tell me? So interestingly?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
He also has shares and we were both I think
being a man, he probably a generalization, but I feel
like he knew more about investing and maybe knew that
it was open to him in a way that I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So he just had confidence. He didn't know more than you.
He just had confidence. And when you are lacking confidence,
you've got to ask yourself one question, what would a mediocre,
middle aged white man do? And then you're going to
do that pretty much?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
But yeah, So he was also investing around twenty twenty.
I think he had rais or acorns and I had
to play spaceship, so we had compare notes, and he
also was investing in similar but different things. So we
hold I believe both NDQ and FIE. He has made
more speculative and direct share purchases with you know, our
(19:43):
direct companies, and he is definitely taking a few punts
here and there. He has. Oh, he's more of a
risk take than I am, as I'm pretty risk averse
of my investing.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so tell me about performance, then your portfolios? Whose
performance is better?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Well, funnily enough, because I haven't sold anything, I've always
been buying the same shares. I don't actually hold that many.
I think I've got about less than ten direct and ets.
He had so many he had to go through a
journey of selling the ones that were underperforming. Then he
I think was rebalancing. So I actually would say my
portfolio is done better. But just because I've been very consistent.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Oh my god. So hold on. So you're saying that
consistency is the key. Not picking stocks that's so crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yes, And not trying to time the market either, that's
you know, it's a key learning And I feel like,
don't get me wrong, I'm sure your husband is incredibly smart,
and like it's also like, as somebody who worked in
the industry, it's fun, Like, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Not everyone is going to find this fun, but I
find this fun, and I know that a lot of
men are also like, well, it's kind of like a
speculative stock. It's a bit of fun. Like, it doesn't
mean it's better. Research tells us that women who are
just consistent are better investors than men overall, and that
is the perfect example of that. So we know now
that your share portfolio that you created yourself is worth
(21:04):
about seventy five five hundred dollars. And you said I
own VDHG, which is the Vanguard Diversified High Growth Fund,
which we spoke about on Brooks episode as well, both
brook and I own. That definitely not a recommendation, and
I feel like I need to caveat this before I
get into well what do you own? Not recommendations? We
are just being pervy on your portfolio. And VDHG is
(21:26):
actually one of the most popular ETFs in the country.
It's not because oh wow, Like I don't want someone
listening to this and be like, wow, actually I've heard
that like three times now, and she's on the money.
They must be onto something, Yeah, babe. The whole country
is like that's where most people end up going down
their rabbit hole and finding their way too, because Vanguard
is quite popular. Can you run me through what you
(21:49):
hold in your portfolio? Will put I feel like the
direct shares for your company off to the side because
it's not the same like she owns direct shares in
her company fantastic. We'll talk about that later. But in
your actual comseck account and comsect pocket account, what do
you own and why? Sure?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
So, overall my strategy is very much core and satellite.
I would say VDHG is my core. I've got about
just under fifty percent of my whole portfolio is VDHG,
and eventually I would like that to have a larger proportion,
just because, like I said, I'm pretty pretty basic, pretty stable.
I like consistency, and I like to just know the
(22:29):
diversification is already taken care of for me one hundred percent.
So I own two direct shares. I've got Bendigo Bendigobank
Wes Farmers, and I've got one lic which is afik Oh.
I just have to go look up the full name
of I believe. So my direct shares are about seventeen percent,
(22:50):
So yeah, less than twenty percent, and I'll probably keep
it that way as my portfolio grows. Just because Wes
Farmers has amazingly been my best performing share, this is
pretty crazy. I've had ninety three percent growth on that.
I must have just gotten out a really good time.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
When did you purchase that?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Oh, I think it might have been twenty twenty two,
And yeah, it's just grown really well. I also have
NDQ and FI, which I've mentioned IHG oh IXJ. Sorry
those three are in pocket and as well because I
haven't invested for a little while and the tech market
has grown amazingly, I had eighty five point four seven
(23:27):
percent growth in NDQ.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, amazing. So those of you playing along at home,
NDQ is the beta shares NASDAQ one hundred ETF, which
is going to give so NASDAK is the American version
of the AX, and that means that she's getting, you know,
some international exposure, you could say. And then you said
before that you have IXJ. So IXJ is the I
(23:52):
shares Global Healthcare in the Australian currency, which means you're
able to purchase it on the ASEX, but it's actually
an into national ETF, which is very cool. And then
you also mentioned that you have AFI which is the
Australian Foundation Investment Company. Now all of those are fine,
those are available on and it's not even me giving
you permission. They're just like basic ETFs that you're able
(24:14):
to buy on comsext Pocket. But what I'm really interested
in is the two direct shares that you own. One
because you had ninety three percent growth in West Farmers.
Let's start there. Why did you buy West Farmers? Why
did you go? I want a direct share, especially because
your journey started with Spaceship, then comsext Pocket, which doesn't
allow you to have direct shares, and then you would
have graduated to comsec where you had access to direct shares.
(24:37):
Why West Farmers.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
So when I was really deep into my investing journey
and I was learning and everything, I thought, maybe I
should branch out from ETF and actually, you know, put
my money where my mouth is, buy a few blue
chip companies that I think have a lot of potential.
And of course in Australia I always get West Farmers,
Woollies and Coals confused. But West Farmers I believe owns.
Bunnings came up and I think it did use to
(25:00):
own one of the supermarket chains.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
It did and it now doesn't. Oh it doesn't, but
it used to be affiliated with Calls, which is why
they all have the flybys and access to one pass,
because they're kind of all in affiliation with each other.
But West Farmers no longer own Calls. Calls Is are
out on its own. But inside West Farmers you have Target,
you have came Out, you have Bunnings, You've got office Works,
(25:22):
there's a whole heap of other stuff, and then a
pharmacy brand as well. Now that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So when I was doing research, I was in a
few Facebook groups, I was in a few Reddit chats,
Reddit subredits, and I think it is really great to
have those blue chip companies that you can't imagine ever
really being in a downturn. You know, we know that
OSSI's love Bunnings. I love Bunnings, and so I just
think it is a very stable company, you know, as
part of a wider collection. So I was very happy
(25:49):
with my Groce and West Farmers, and it was a
few It came really came from recommendations from other people
that I did research on. I checked the share price
as well, and I thought let's put a bit of
money in and now it's grown amazingly and I actually
wish I had put more in.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I love that. The thing that I love about this
part of our conversation is it's kind of what I
was hoping to get to. Like, you purchased a direct
share because it directly aligned to your values. You were like, actually,
I've purchased this direction not because like a mate was like, oh,
it's just Becky Stock or whatever. You were like, actually,
I can see value in West Farmers because I can
see that those are consumables that we're always going to need.
(26:26):
And I think the conversation, especially and I was on Reddit.
I've been on Reddit for years is the sick reality
of my life. But I'm always reading Ozzie Finance, and
during COVID, I think a lot of people were having
that conversation about if you were on Reddit as well
the toilet paper. They were like, it's a consumable. Like
Reddit was going crazy talking about like companies that are
thriving at the moment, you should be investing in them.
(26:47):
And clearly you took note of that. But then also,
it's not just I read something online and invested. You
were like, I read something online, I thought about it
and I can see the value here and it's still
in my portfolio because you're buying hold strategies working. Tell
me about Bendigo Bank. Why Bendigo Bank.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
So Bendigo I've seen about forty three percent growth, which
is not bad. Again, I didn't actually invest a huge amount,
and right now it's only sitting in about three point
six thousand dollars. I always, again, back in my research,
I really wanted to own some of the banks, just
to dabble be in that space, in that blue chip
as well. And I always remember that Macquarie was very expensive.
(27:24):
I just think it looked expensive. I thought maybe it
was overvalued at the time. Again doing a bit of research,
listening to other people's recommendations, and I think Bendigo, I'm
a little bit dusty on my knowledge, but it's maybe
the fifth biggest bank or it is so. At the
time of investing in Bendigo, I was actually a customer
of UP Bank, which I really really liked. And this
(27:45):
was at the time when I had all my savers
and I was creating my health deposit, and I loved
UP and everything they stood for, and so I thought,
let's invest in Bendigo, invest in the parent, yeah, which
would be Association.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's why I wanted to know, because
I was like, are you just picking these random two stocks?
They seem oddly specific. I would love to know more. Now,
your West Farmer's direct Chairs have returned you ninety three percent,
which is fantastic and very exciting. Definitely the outlier. But
have you got anything else that you're like, oh my gosh,
that had incredible returns. I didn't see it coming, Like,
(28:19):
what's been your best performers?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So honestly, yeah, West Farmers, which was at ninety three percent.
I am looking right now and it's down to eighty nine,
so I'm sure there's a bit of variability, and as
well as NDQ, which I mentioned earlier, is at the
eighty three percent, And really, I have had great returns overall.
Something I didn't say and I wanted to show, actually
the value and the power of compound investing is that
(28:43):
my current portfolio is at seventy five and a half
thousand dollars and I've invested fifty five thousand of that.
So the growth that I've seen across my whole portfolio
is thirty six percent, and that's about twenty k So.
I was really really impressed me not having investors for
two years, which I think is incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's very sexy. I'm not going to lie. That is
very sexy. It's one of those things where you know,
we zoom out and we talk about the average performance
of the Australian share market and over time that sits
anywhere between nine and eleven percent, depending on what period
of time you're looking at, and we all expect that,
but then we have these stories and we can't guarantee
that you'll get the same returns, especially because you kind
(29:23):
of had the benefit of investing at a time when
lots of people were pulling their money out, So that's
going to play into it. Sorry, thirty six percent return
is elite. Is there anything in your portfolio that you
look at and be like, excuse me, you're not performing
very well.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So I think this was one of my rogue ideas.
And I was listening to podcasts and I suppose Victoria
you can talk more about this. But I remember hearing
that lic So listed investment companies. I think they are
are quite good, and I thought, why not, you know,
invest in one. I did a bit of research into
the company that is Afi, and I think their Australian owned.
(29:58):
They had a really cool history, and I thought, why not.
But it's not terrible. It's just held its value, which
is maybe the point of it. So I'm currently down
one point three nine percent and it's just flooding along
and maybe that's the point.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And do you know what, I think we've all got
something in our portfolio that we look at and go
I really thought that would perform and it wasn't. But that,
my friend, is why we diversified. Because if you had
just purchased that and I got you on the show,
you'd be like investing sucks, Like investing is not fun.
But because you've diversified, we can't pick the good performers
like you would not have been able to say, do
(30:34):
you know what Wes Fumers is going to return the
ninety three percent? Because do you know what you would
have done? Put your entire life savings into it? Because
I would have and I'm not a betting woman. Do
you have any other investing regrets or big learnings from
this journey?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I wouldn't say regrets so much as just a lot
of learnings. So when I was reflecting, and you know
about to speak on this podcast. I thought my story
isn't amazing. I haven't a gained the system. I want
to say that I am very I'm honest, but I'm
also like it just shows really the power of compound interest.
(31:07):
Investing can be very like certain figure and that's the
approach I like to take. I don't call myself an
amazing investor, but I really just listen to the recommendations
of a lot of trusted people out there who know
their stuff, and I tried my hand at something, and yeah,
I've just followed the advice out there technically, Like I
don't think of investing as gambling or I know some
(31:28):
people have that out there, and I think that's when
you choose the riskier stocks, or you've got all your
money in crypto or direct companies like you were saying, Victoria.
But I think when you put your money in a
few trusted companies that you know are going to grow
because or it is an ETF which is so broad
and diversified. I think this just shows that investing it
really should just be seen as an everyday asset and
(31:51):
an everyday tool for a lot of young people out there.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, and I love it and that's obviously. I don't know.
I feel like I've dedicated my life at this point
to yelling people to start investing because I'm like, you
want to get rich, you can get rich. You want
to be financially free. I want you to be financially free.
Like I love this, especially because I'm like, it's so accessible.
Like we're not talking about rich people getting richer. We're
talking about a twenty five year old who once decided
(32:16):
she was going to invest and now has a seventy
five thousand dollars portfolio. And by the time you retire,
you're going to be so comfortable, Like it just makes
me so excited. Now I want to know. Obviously, I'm
making some grand assumptions here. Your portfolio. You said you
contributed fifty five thousand dollars and it's now at seventy
five five hundred dollars ish right. To get to that,
(32:38):
you would have had to experience compounding interest, which means
you have reinvested the dividends that your portfolio is creating
back into your share portfolio. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So I'm a little guilty of all the dividends I've
received over the last two years. I've just been saving
in my investment save up that's against my offset, and
maybe in a few months time, what very s, I'll
pick one of my existing ETFs or shares. I believe
I'm just going to put a chunk of money into
VDHD and that'll be my investing for the year. So
(33:09):
I suppose at the moment what I do is just
save my dividends at a time when I'm ready to invest.
And like you said, Victoria, conflict does have a fee
and has that minimum, so I want to make sure
I'm investing on a good amount. I don't do dollar
cost averaging just because I I don't know. I just
prefer to invest in a lump sum so I can
(33:30):
sort of track it against my other goals like I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And yes, that gives me anxiety because I'm such a
dollar cost averaging girly. And it's just because you can't
time the market and you told me that before. Like
you told me before, you can't time the market, and
I would hate for you to make a really big
lump sum investment and then like the week after the
market crashes or something happens. Can you maybe like I'd
(33:53):
never give you advice, but maybe once you have your
figure and you're like, I'm going to invest, Like, let's
pretend it's thirteen thousand dollars or so instead of just
dumping that in at one time, could you break that
up for me maybe into like going, I'm still going
to do the thirteen, but I'll do it over three months,
like so that you get one month, two month, three months,
and then maybe your dollar cost averaging that way instead
of just like jumping a heap of cash into the market.
(34:15):
Because you're the one that told me that timing the
market that's not a strategy.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Yes, so i'd be that's actually a really good approach.
And I need to get back on the horse, so
to speak, and you know, get back in the investing mindset,
so maybe I will. It is a big call. I
definitely need to set up some of my you know,
the share price alerts when you can see how it's going.
I haven't been keeping an eye on it, like I mentioned,
set and forget. But yes, I like your idea. I
get it.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I'm just a girl. I was born to do investing.
So when you say, oh this, I'm like, oh, you
told me that that wasn't a good idea, So I
was wrong. When I said, I thought that you were
really investing your dividends. Your fifty five thousand dollars, your
dividends have been going into one account. And this basically
twenty thousand dollars that you've made in the market has
just been from increases in values of your shares as
(34:59):
opposed to re investing along the way.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, I was three interesting at the beginning, but my
dividends really increased over the last like two to three years.
The last two years it's been about twenty five hundred
of dividends, And yes, I am just sucking that away,
but I don't intend to spend it. I really do
want to intend to invest it back in Oh And.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
That's fine, But do you know what that tells me?
This portfolio is all growth. It's not even compound interest
that's got you here, because compounding interest is the money
that your money makes when it's made money. But you're
just taking that money off the table and setting it
over to the side, which is fine, but that's impressive.
So you're telling me if you had implemented a dividend
(35:39):
reinvestment plan, which by the way, through COMSEP, you can
you go and tick the box and it will automatically
reinvest your dividends, which maybe you're interested in, especially if
you're like, well, if BDHG is getting dividends, maybe I
want them to go straight back into VDHG. You could
automate that. And I'm not saying you need to do that,
but that might be something you're interested in, because then
you'll be harnessing even more compounding interest power instead of
(36:02):
having the compound interest that you're being paid put into
a savings account for you to then invest later. If
that makes any sense, Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Actually, I think that's a really good learning because in
my mind, I really conflate like the growth that I'm
seeing as compound interest.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
No, it's literally value increasing the shares that you own,
which is also very sexy, and I love that for you.
But I'm like, go, we could be making more money
here and you don't even have to invest a dollar
more like it's all the money that your money's making
just making more money.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Yeah, that's a really good approach. I definitely I'm excited
listening to Brooks investing diary. I really got me excited
because she is so passionate and she has such a
goal in mind. I in my submission, I said, I
originally had this goal of having one hundred K by
age thirty, which has the goal has passed me by
I haven't reached it.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Sorry, you've bought a house as well. You know, we
cannot dismiss that. Sorry, by thirty you had purchased a home,
you had paid for a wedding, and you had invested
fifty five thousand dollars. Sit down, that's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I think when you see it like that, it just
I guess it goes to show that five years is
a huge amount of time. A lot can obviously happen
in five years, but also your money can grow so
much or you can do so much. And I think
at the time of investing, I didn't appreciate just how
long five years is in the grand scheme of your money.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's why it's a journey, right, Like
you're always learning new things. Yes, you invested during COVID,
but it's not a set and forget things. So as
much as you're investing, portfolio can be. I feel like
we're always learning new tidbits and things that we could implement,
or like you might get another interest, Like one day
you might be like, oh, I'm really interested in Transurban,
Like you know, that's a company that I might go
(37:40):
and purchase some shares in. And you know, now you've
got a little kitty to the side essentially that you're like,
I'm investing maybe instead of investing it all in BDHG,
You've found another interest that you're like, I want to
make sure that And as you said before, I want
most of my portfolio in VDHG. That's your journey. But
you did say you're a core satellite girly, so maybe
(38:00):
you've got a few more satellites that just keep things sparkly.
Like I think we've got to stay engaged as well
as still investing for the long term, we've got to
be excited about it as well.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yeah, and there are some amazing Aussi companies out there
that are doing really cool things. And I think as well,
it can be overwhelming because on hot Cover all those websites,
definitely Reddit, people have so many bets and speculative choices,
and I think, yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that, but
I also think I'd like to just learn a lot more.
Like you said, there's always so much to learn, and
(38:32):
you never stopped.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
And I feel like you've got to take everything that
you read on the Internet with a grain of salt,
especially if you're going to be reading forums like Reddit.
Do not get me wrong, those people are wildly passionate,
but that does not mean that they know what they
talk about. It turns out you can be passionate and
wrong at the same time.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yes, and also there's a lot of I definitely remember
back in the day, there's a lot of people who
are like, I'm making one hundred K returns and yeah,
you can't believe everyone.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
And also you're making one hundred k returns and then
you find out they've invested a million dollars and you're like,
that's actually terrible return. There's some semantics that aren't here.
Or they're like, oh, the revenue on that business is
massive and you go, yes, but their profit is dismal. Yeah,
there's just I feel like there's a lot of semantics,
and you do need to take everything with a grain
of salt. I'm running out of time with you, so
(39:22):
I do want to ask two more questions before the
end to keep it very shees on the money esque,
what do you think is your best investing habit?
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I think as I sort of alluded to when I
first started speaking, but I had to do a lot
of like relearning my mindset, retraining, and understanding what the
value of a dollar is worth. So I think in
the last five years, I've really become a lot more
minimalist in my spending and consumption habits. So back in
pre COVID, I was spending a lot of money on
(39:50):
just fast fashion, random clothes, random nickknacks that I didn't
really need or didn't have any value for me, including
big nights out and things that I wasn't sure and
you know the next day that I actually really valued.
So and that's I guess where the investing comes into it, too,
because I would definitely much rather have this money working
(40:10):
for me in certain ways than just having a room
full of stuff that I don't really need or value totally.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I resonate with that one so much. Like my wardrobe
is nice because I spent a lot on it prior
to COVID.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, Like, yeah, I just think it's quite important to think, like,
obviously your lifestyle is important and making sure you're spending
on the things that you value, which is something I'm
really happy to say that I currently do now. I
always think I need to be thinking of my future
self and so bared me in the future. I want
to get out of my life and that's where I
believe my investing will come in handy, because I'm setting
(40:46):
up and I'm thinking of future.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Me yet totally or to flip that, I want to know,
what do you think is your worst investing all money habit?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's a good question. I think sometimes it is hard
to I guess separate, like I know brooks Ortter spoke
to this too, because she's really being in fire. But
it's like you have to enjoy aspects of life too,
And sometimes I think I do have a bit of
a scarcity mindset and it's hard to, you know, go
with the most expensive option if I know there is
(41:14):
a slightly cheaper option, you know, try to weigh up
that balance. And I guess my worst investing habit is that, Yes,
I haven't stayed engaged with it and time has passed
me by, but I'm ready. I'm really excited to sort
of start again and see where it goes.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
I am genuinely so excited for you, and just even
this conversation, I could see your face when you're like,
hold on, you're right, I could be doing dividend reinvesting.
I was like watching the way that you're looking at me,
because I'm also like, am I saying the wrong thing?
Like maybe this isn't in line when her values? But
I could see you kind of lighting up a little
bit to be like, hmm, maybe I should be doing
this or hmm, that seems interesting. So I love it.
(41:53):
Thank you so much for letting me be so pervy
on your portfolio. It's one of my favorite things to do.
Like We've released race a whole series on Instagram called
Pervy Paycheck and Pervy Portfolio where we break it down,
but now we're bringing it to the pod, and I
couldn't be more excited. So thank you for being our
very first anonymous investing diary. It has been an absolute pleasure.
(42:14):
I just know the community is going to be obsessed
with this, so thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy
I got to come on and share. And if I
could leave people with one thing, it's just that investing
doesn't have to be hard. It can be really simple,
really straightforward, and I think we should all have a
lot more confident and trust in ourselves to try our
hand this and get amazing results.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I'm obsessed with you. I love you, thank you so much.
That is so true. Please come and hype up my
community at every possible episode like I couldn't agree more.
I love this, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Advice tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of Money Sherper Pty Ltd a BN three two one
six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four
five one two eight nine
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